Last weekend I was on vacation, as I was checking out I looked through the room pretty thoroughly as usual to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. I hadn't opened the nightstand drawer until this point, but I checked anyway, you never know if I absent mindedly put something in there and I don't want to leave anything.
I noticed that the bible was open to a particular page. Given that I waited until the last minute to open the drawer, I didn't have time to closely examine what page it was on, but it was a psalm, so I think a previous guest opened it to a passage he thought was good. He probably wanted the next person to open the drawer (me) to see something inspirational.
I figured this was a great idea that I could steal. I quickly flipped to 1 Timothy 6, grabbed a pen and circled verse 1-2, and closed the drawer with the bible opened to that page. Perhaps the next person to go looking for that bible will see for the first time that the bible does indeed endorse slavery. This would of course be better with a highlighter (which I now keep in my travel bag), but the pen was fine in a pinch.
The only real downside is that I do not do a ton of travelling, but I figure if everyone reading this does the same thing, we can perhaps show people what horrible things really are in that book that they think is so perfect. You really only have to memorize one terrible verse to be able to play along :)
That's a pretty funny idea.. Having a few verses memorized and just adding them to the bible. I might have to do so. Psalm 137:8-9 is probably my choice for a go to verse. "O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, how blessed will be the one who repays you with the recompense you have paid us. How blessed will be one one who seizes and dashes your little ones against the rock." I guess a Christian might say that it's OG, I mean OT.
ReplyDeleteI thought about buying some of those Bible warning stickers online. Here is a sample that came up with a quick google search. http://www.zazzle.com/work_of_fiction_warning_sticker-217791366912108314
Bible warning stickers
yikes, that psalm is brutal.
DeleteThose stickers are pretty funny, but they will just piss people off. I like the idea of just pointing out stuff that is actually in their bible. There might even be a time when someone sees a thing highlighted and they start thinking it is inspiration from another Christian. How much would they read before they realize it is something offensive? Something about them going in thinking they will read something good, you know, because the bible is so great, and then getting hit in the face with something horrible from the bible.
I guess leaving the bible open to a particular page might work but what if it's housekeeping that left the Bible open to Psalms? When the maid is changing the sheets she might turn the Bible back. I think I would be inclined to dog ear the pages after Highlighting the verses.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point. Do you think housekeeping would open the drawers while they are cleaning? I assumed not, but I don't really know.
DeleteThe other thing, if you dog ear the pages, you could hit more than one verse :)
I would assume the maid would check the drawers after you check out. In fact as I understand it one thing they check is to see if the Bible was taken from the drawer and if so put in a replacement. I've talked to people from The Gideons and they said it's not unusual for people to take the Bible from the room.
DeleteAs for dog earing the page, I would still highlight the verse and leave the Bible open to that page but I would also dog ear it. It might be good to stick a few scraps of paper in as book marks and highlight other troublesome verses.
That does make sense that they might need to replace the bible. And I do like the bookmarks as well. And I would still definitely highlight stuff in addition to the bookmarks :)
DeleteAn atheist's version of "tagging." I like it.
ReplyDelete